The Age Of Enlightenment, By Shane Dawson And Voltaire

In addition to comically expressing themselves, Shane Dawson and Voltaire have also spoken out against the government, indicating their lack of trust in it. During the Age of Enlightenment, while all aspects of European life were being re-evaluated, Voltaire criticized the government officials that were in power at the time through his satirical writing. Some of this problematic writing included satirical poems in which Voltaire “[ridiculed] the incestuous love affairs of the new French regent, Philippe II, Duke of Orléans” (Reill and Wilson). Because of those poems, Voltaire was exiled in 1715 to Sully-sur-Loire, a commune in France. However, he could not resist spreading his thoughts, so “renewed literary attacks against the regent in
Voltaire’s repeated writing against the government despite the repercussions demonstrates how important to him it was to inform the public of his suspicions and beliefs. Although Shane Dawson was not constantly in trouble with the authorities and did not face exiles, he also made remarks that were critical of the current government. In his various conspiracy theory videos, Shane often shares theories about the government such as them coordinating historical events such as 9/11, watching and listening to people through phones, being behind harmful trends in order to control overpopulation, and cloning celebrities. In one of these videos, Shane Dawson explains the belief that there were bombs included in 9/11 set up by the government and that the planes may not have even crashed into the Twin Towers based on the footage of the planes flying straight through the towers without being
Using the technology of his time, writing along with the help of the printing press, Voltaire was a “prolific writer” as he “produced works in almost every literary form” including “plays, poetry, novels, essays, historical and scientific works, over 21,000 letters and over two thousand books and pamphlets” (Mastin). For both good and bad reasons, these significant pieces of writing sent him around the world to further publicize his thoughts. The main unfortunate reason that Voltaire traveled so much was because of his multitude of exiles and times when he had no choice but to flee. However, Voltaire ended up in several different countries. At one point in 1748, Voltaire had settled in Poland with Madame du Châtelet. But after the death of this “beloved companion”, Voltaire returned to France and then decided to “finally [accept] the longstanding invitation of Frederick II (the Great) to move to Berlin” (Reill and Wilson). Although this was tragic, being invited to Berlin by Frederick the Great shows that throughout his career and circulation of his beliefs, Voltaire made a great impact that even reached those in power outside of his native country of France. Shane Dawson has similarly made a global impact. However, he did not have to travel to various countries in order to get his thoughts around. Using twenty-first-century technology,